Bangladesh Railway () is the state-owned rail transport agency of

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. It operates and maintains all railways in the country, and is overseen by the Directorate General of Bangladesh Railway. The Bangladesh Railway is governed by the Ministry of Railways and the Bangladesh Railway Authority with a

reporting mark A reporting mark is a code used to identify owners or lessees of rolling stock and other equipment used on certain rail transport networks. The code typically reflects the name or identifying number of the owner, lessee, or operator of the equip ...

known as "BR". The Bangladesh Railway system has a total length of . In 2009, it had 34,168 employees working for the operations. In the year 2014, Bangladesh Railway recorded a ridership of 65 million passengers for a total of 8,135 million passenger-kilometres, and transported 2.52 million tonnes of freight racking up to 677 million tonne-kilometres.

History

Rail transport in Bangladesh (formerly known as British India) began on 15 November 1862, when 53.11 km of (

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , more known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union countries ...

) line was opened between Darshana in Chuadanga District and Jogotee in Kushtia District. On 1 January 1871, extension of Darshana - Jogotee Railway line up to Goalanda by Eastern Bengal Railway. On 4 January 1885, a further 14.98 km and (

metre gauge Metre-gauge railways ( US: meter-gauge railways) are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. Metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by several European colonial powers including France, Britain and ...

) line was opened. In 1891, the Bengal Assam Railway was constructed with the assistance of the government and later managed by the Bengal Assam Railway Company. On 1 July 1895, two sections of metre gauge railway were constructed by English railway companies. One railway connected

Chattogram Chittagong ( ), officially Chattogram, (, ) (, or ) is the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Home to the Port of Chittagong, it is the busiest port in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. The city is also the business capital of Bangladesh. It ...

and

Comilla Comilla (), officially spelled Cumilla, is a metropolis on the banks of the Gomti River in eastern Bangladesh. Comilla was one of the cities of ancient Bengal. It was once the capital of Tripura kingdom. Comilla Airport is located in the Duli ...

, with a distance of . Another was the connection built between Laksam Upazila and Chandpur, with a distance of . In 1947, at the time of the

Partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

, the Bengal Assam Railway was divided into two parts. The 2,603.92 km of track located in

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

, came under the control of the central

Government of Pakistan The Government of Pakistan () (abbreviated as GoP), constitutionally known as the Federal Government, commonly known as the Centre, is the national authority of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, a federal republic located in South Asia, con ...

. On 1 February 1961, the Eastern Bengal Railway was renamed the Pakistan Eastern Railway. In 1962, control of the Pakistan Eastern Railway was transferred to the

Government of East Pakistan The Government of East Pakistan or formerly Government of East Bengal governed the province East Bengal (later East Pakistan, now Bangladesh) and was centered in its provincial capital Dhaka. The head of the province was the Governor, who was nom ...

. On 9 June 1962, by order of the president, the Pakistan Eastern Railway management was assumed by a Railway Board. As of 2005, the total length of the Bangladesh Railway is . It was composed of of broad gauge track (mostly in the western region), of metre gauge track (mostly in the central and eastern regions) and of

dual gauge Dual gauge railroad track has three or four rails, allowing vehicles of two track gauges to run on it. Signalling and sidings are more expensive to install on dual gauge tracks than on two single gauge tracks. Dual gauge is used when there i ...

track. In 1998, the Jamuna Bridge was built to connect the previously divided east and west rail networks in dual gauge. Bangladesh is currently converting its railway system to dual gauge system, to enable both broad gauge and metre gauge trains to run. It is also developing extensive railway transport relations with India. With the Bangladeshi and Indian Governments working side by side, at least 9 International Rail Transit System (IRTS) have come up presently in Bangladesh. They are as follows: - 1.

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

- Darsana- Iswardi-

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

; 2.

- Bangaon-

Jessore Jessore (, ), officially Jashore, is a city of Jessore District in Khulna Division. It lies in southwestern Bangladesh. It is home to the first flight training school of the Bangladeshi Air Force, established in 1971. Jessore city consists of 9 wa ...

Khulna Khulna (, ) is the third-largest city in Bangladesh, after Dhaka and Chittagong. It is the administrative centre of the Khulna District and the Khulna Division. It is the divisional centre of 10 districts of the division. Khulna is also the seco ...

; 3. New Jalpaiguri-Haldibari- Chilahati- Iswardi-

; 4. Changrabandha- Burimari-Lalmonirhat-Teesta-Kaunia- Parbatipur; 5. Parbatipur-

Dinajpur Dinajpur ( ) is a city and the district headquarters of Dinajpur district situated in Rangpur Division, Bangladesh. It was founded in 1786. It is located 413 km north-west of Dhaka. It is bounded on the north by Suihari, Katapara, Bangi ...

-Birol- Radhikapur-

Raiganj Raiganj (), is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal and it stands on the bank of the Kulik river. This city is the headquarters of the Uttar Dinajpur district. The city situated in the narrow strip which joins the Northern and Southern p ...

- Barsoi; 6. Badarpur-Karimganj-Maishasan-Shabazpur-Kulaura-

Sylhet Sylhet (; ) is a Metropolis, metropolitan city in the north eastern region of Bangladesh. It serves as the administrative center for both the Sylhet District and the Sylhet Division. The city is situated on the banks of the Surma River and, as o ...

Chittagong Chittagong ( ), officially Chattogram, (, ) (, or ) is the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Home to the Port of Chittagong, it is the busiest port in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. The city is also the business capital of Bangladesh. It ...

; 7.

Agartala Agartala (, , ) is the capital and the List of cities and towns in Tripura, largest city of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tripura, situated on the banks of Haora River, Haora/Saidra River, about east of the border ...

- Akhaura-

; 8.

Old Malda Old Malda is a town and municipality in Malda district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of the Malda Metropolitan Area (Urban Agglomeration). It is located on the eastern bank of the river Mahananda. Geography Old Malda is loca ...

-Singhabad-Rohanpur-

Rajshahi Rajshahi (, ) is a metropolis, metropolitan city and a major Urban area, urban, administrative, commercial and educational centre of Bangladesh. It is also the administrative seat of the eponymous Rajshahi Division, division and Rajshahi Distr ...

; 9. Eklakhi-

Balurghat Balurghat is a city and municipality located in the Dakshin Dinajpur district of West Bengal, India, serving as the district headquarters. Strategically positioned on National Highway 512, it is well-connected by road and rail, facilitating trad ...

- Hili. While routes 1, 2, 3, 5 and 8 are already operational, routes 4 and 6 are being restored with routes 7 and 9 currently nearing construction completion. In 2010, funding was received for a bridge over the Titas River. In September 2010, the Government of Bangladesh approved ten rail development projects costing 19·9 billion

Bangladeshi taka The taka (, , currency sign, sign: , ISO 4217, code: BDT, Short form (linguistics), short form: Tk) is the currency of Bangladesh. In Unicode, it is encoded at . Issuance of banknotes 10 and larger is controlled by Bangladesh Bank, while the ...

including plans for new tracks and

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, Railroad car#Freight cars, freight and Passenger railroad car, passenger cars (or coaches) ...

. To bolster the bilateral ties between India and Bangladesh, the Ministry of Railways in India has supplied 20 Broad Gauge (BG) locomotives to its eastern neighbour, thus contributing to the railway infrastructure of Bangladesh. These locomotives have been appropriately modified by the Indian side to align with the requirements of Bangladesh Railway. The provision of these locomotives will aid in managing the growing volume of passenger and freight train operations in Bangladesh, thereby supporting the enhancement of its railway system. It is worth noting that previously, in June 2020, the Indian Government had granted 10 locomotives to Bangladesh, further contributing to the improvement of its railways. In 2011, Sheikh Hasina Wazed, the then Prime Minister of Bangladesh, officiated at the start of construction of a link which would cross several rivers to reach

Cox's Bazar Cox's Bazar (; ; ) is a city, fishing port, tourism centre, and Cox's Bazar District, district headquarters in south-eastern Bangladesh. Cox's Bazar Beach, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Bangladesh, is the longest uninterrupte ...

. The of dual gauge line started from the

railhead {{Short pages monitor